... still pushes the right buttons and has more going for it than Returns. Like other people I found the plot and characters didn't grab me to the same extent. That being said, the quality of the writing itself and the Shadowrun setting still held the experience together for me, and the little tweaks to the gameplay and mechanics worked well. The one thing that has disappointed me about all three games - and I guess is even more noticeable here for having "Hong Kong" as the subtitle - is HBS are still yet to manage to make it feel like you're actually *in* the city where it's set, any more than you got a sense of being in Berlin or Seattle for the previous games. I appreciate that to truly achieve that they would need a lot more in the way of money and staff, but I think even something like a map screen during transitions showing the city and where you're headed would give a bit of the illusion without costing crazy money. Either that or HBS just need to hold all of Rockstar hostage until GTA: Neo-Tokyo becomes a thing.
Never bothered writing a review before, so forgive me if this is a bit sloppy and disjointed, but, you know, it's Planescape:Torment, the game that, in conjunction with Morrowind, pretty much ruined all subsequent RPGs for me. So it has to be done. First, let's get this out the way. No, the "game" is not great, nor unique, nor original. There. That's it. Everything else, the artwork, the sound design, the music, the setting, the characters, the story and above all that massive, uncompromising, insane wealth of detailed, well-written text makes this one of the all time greats. No number of DragonEffect MassAges will ever give me the same excitement that the announcement of a sequel to this would, right up until the point where it inevitably crushes my heart and soul by somehow ended up as a musical teen comedy with a happy ending thanks to the wonders of committee-based focus-group-tested banality. Why do I love it so? Simple. Show me another game where you wake up on a slab in a giant mortuary staffed by zombies and fatalistic monks, covered in scars and tattoos and with only a lecherous, wise-cracking skull for your guide. Where your quests involve helping an alleyway to give birth and resolving a conflict between an undead commune and a hive-mind of rats deep beneath the city. Where your companions are insane inflamed wizards, rebellious robotic cubes and damaged demonic priestesses. Show me another game where words *really* matter. Oh, and Annah. Annah definitely had something to do with it. It's better than Shining Force 2. I can think of few higher accolades.
